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ROBERT E. LEE. 



J^/f rjifenioiinni. 



A TRIBUTE OF RESPECT OFFERED BV THE CITIZENS 
OF LOUISVILLE. 



d-(rvu-*/v\ii^j Km. 0^>3:^^^. 



* With honor lay him in his j;rave, 

And thereby shall increase of honor come 
Unto their arms who vanquished one so wise, 
So valiant, so renowned." 

HE^■R^■ Taylor. 



LOUISVILLE: 

PRINTED BY JOHN P.MORTON AND COMPANY. 
1S70. 






'03 



PREFACE. 



Thls publication is made in accordance with the wishes of 
Confederate soldiers residint; in this city, as expressed in the 
subjoined resolution, unanimously adopted at a meeting held 
October 17, 1870: 

Resolved, that a coiiimitteeMTf, seven ex-Confederate soldiers lie appointed to 
collect and piililish in a])propriate form the various tributes of respect offered tc^ 
the memory of (ieneral Roi'.ERT E. LKr:, deceased, by the citizens of Louisville. 

The following-named gentlemen were appointed to carry 
into effect the objects of the meeting, viz. : Messrs. D. W. 

Y.WDELL, W. L. Cl.XKKE, W. H. THf)MAS, J. B. PiRTLE, 

Price C. Newman, R. W. Woolley, and Wm. J. Davi.s. 

For the handsome wood-cut of General Lee's birth-place 
the Committee is indebted to the University Publishing Com- 
pany, New York, who generously tendered the use of the 
plate without charge. 



IN MEMORIAM. 



THE CITIZENS. 

On the morning of the 13th of October, 1870, the death of General 
Lee having been announced by telegraph, a large concourse of citizens, 
irrespective of party, wishing to give utterance to the sorrow filling 
their hearts, united in the following 



CALL. 

The citiieiis, friends, and admirers of the lamented General Robert E. Lee are requested 
to meet at the court-house at half past seven o'clock this evening, to take action in regard 
to his death. General John C. Breckinridge has been notified by telegraph of this call, 
and will probably be present. Other speakers have been invited. All who desire to testify 
their respect and veneration fir the memory of this great and good man are invited. 



John G. B.\xter, 

J. M. Keller, 

Warren Mitchell, 

D. B. Harris, 

J. C. Breckinridge, 

John B. Pirtle, 

Clinton McClarty, J. P. Johnson, 

James Bridgeford, Charles Semple, 

John Barkee, Joseph Benedict, 

R. C. Wintersmith, J. B. Goodloe, 



S. B. Buckner, 
John B. Smith, 
V. P. Armstrong, 

RuliERT W. WOOLLEY, 
\V. \'. MATrHEWS, 

H. W. Bruce, 



B. W. Duke, 

E. W. Kennedy, 

J. H. Lindenperger, 

Joe U. Allen, 

J. E. SurcLiFEE, 

Phil. Lee, 

George W. Chilton, 

John F. Young, 

J. H. Weller, 

J. H. Le.athers, 

And many others. 



At early twilight the circuit court-room was crowded. The meeting 
was organized by the election of Colonel W. F. Beasley as temporary 
chairman, and Major Clinton McClarty as secretary. 
B 5 



IN MEMORIAM. 

A motion being made that the chair appoint a committee on per- 
manent organization, General I. M. St. John offered the following 
resolution as a substitute, which was adopted: 

Resolved, th.1t his Honor, J. G. Baxter, the M.iyor of Louisville, be selected as perma- 
nent chairman of this meeting. 

Resolved, that the permanent chairman lie requested to appoint a committee of not less 
than five members to draft suitable resolutions expressive of the sentiments of the citizens 
of Louisville in reference to the death of General Robert E. Lee. 

Resolved, that this meeting now adjourn to meet again at Weisiger Hall at half past 
seven o'clock, the 15th instant, to receive and act upon the report of the committee on 
resolutions. 

Mayor Baxter, being dul\- installed as chairman, appointed the 
following committee on resolutions, who were instructed to meet at 
the office of Isaac Caldwell, Esq., and perfect arrangements to carry 
out the programme agreed upon : 



Isaac Caldwell, 
James BRinoEFORD, 

S. B. BtlCKNER, 

Charles .Semple, 
Warre.m Mitchell, 
R. A. Robinson, 
J. F. Bullitt, 
Charles R. Long, 
J. P. Johnson, 
W. B. Hamilton, 



I. M. .St. John, 
T. B. Cochran, 
E. D. .Standifokd, 
Julius Dorn, 
George P. Doern, 
T. E. Bramlette, 
B. W. Duke, 
Henrv \V.\tterson, 
James Trahue, 
H. C. Caruth, 



E. W. Kennedy, 
R. M. Kelly, 
John Barbee, 
N. Bloo.m, 
W. F. Beasley, 
C. Henry Fink, 
\\. L. Cook, 
J. W. Barr, 
A. O. Brannin, 
Pat. Bannon. 



At the time appointed a dense throng of men, women, and children, 
representing every shade of political opinion and all conditions of 
society, gathered at Weisiger Hall. After sweet and solemn music 
from a choir who had volunteered for the occasion, Mayor Baxter, as 
chairman of the meeting, said : 

"We have met to mingle our sorrow for the loss we ha\'e sustained 
in the death of General Lee, and to testify our respect for his memory. 
I greatly regret that our place of meeting is not large enough to accom- 
modate all who have come this evening for this purpose. It is perhaps 



IN MEMORIAM. 

unnecessary, but I would suggest, because of tlie vast number of people 
now assembled here, that the strictest order be observed, that all ma)- 
hear and each take his part in the proceedings. I now introduce to 
)-ou Rev. Mr. Perkins, who will lead us in prayer." 

PRAYER. 

Almighty and everlasting God, the only potentate, king of kings 
and lord of lords, the maker of all things, the judge of all men, ordering 
all things by the council of thine own will, we have assembled here 
together, in the order of thy providence, to do homage to the memory 
of one thou didst give us whom we all loved and whose memorj' we all 
cherish. We come to bow ourselves in meekness and submission to 
thy will, for thou didst give and thou hast taken away. We thank thee 
for the gift of all his excellences of character and all his e.xalted worth. 
Thou didst give him to us, and to thee belongeth all praise. We 
earnestly beseech thee, most gracious God, that thou wilt bless us, that 
we may learn from his exalted character and Christian deportment to 
put our trust in thee, and to submit ourselves entirely to thy ordering; 
for, peerless among his fellows, he humbly bowed before thee as his God. 
Possessed of exalted worth and excellence of character, he came as a 
sinner, trusting for salvation through the redemption reached out for 
him and us by thine own precious Son. We pray thee, gracious God, 
that this lesson may be impressed upon the heart of each and every one 
of us who have so esteemed him, and who now do homage to his 
memory; and, while we thus thank thee, we would pray also that thou 
wouldst give unto us a spirit of resignation, that we may say, "The Lord 
giveth and the Lord taketh away: blessed be the name of the Lord." 
We thank thee, heavenly Father, that w^e can praise and glorify thy 
precious name that thou didst redeem him with the Savior's precious 
blood, renewed by thy blessed spirit. We thank thee that thou didst 
draw him into the way of life and salvation. We pray thee that we 
may be brought to that salvation which thou hast wrought out for 
him. We beseech thee to impress upon our hearts the excellence of 



/iV MEMORIAM. 

that religion whicli he i-ecei\-ed upon earth, and the fruition of which he 
is now enjo}-ing in th)- presence.- Solemnize this meeting, and impress 
upon our hearts the importance of the truths which it teaches us. 
Grant that we may feel that we have been blessed in this coming 
together; that we have been brought nearer to thee, the Lord our 
God. All of which we hunibl)^ ask for the sake of thy dear Son, our 
blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Mr. Isaac Caldwell, chairman of the committee on resolutions, 
came forward and reported a preamble and resolutions, which were 
adopted. 



REMARKS OF ISAAC CALDWELL. 

Mr. Chairm.an: The esteem in which General Robert E. Lee was 
held in Kentucky was not only great, but I believe universal. During 
those years in which the larger portion of his fame was achieved, and 
since, I have mingled constantly with all classes and all shades of opinion 
in business or social relations — in relations the freedom of which was 
never restrained by any party bitterness on my part — and it affords me 
peculiar pleasure on this solemn occasion to bear witness that I have 
never heard a Kentuckian express an unkind opinion or an unkind wish 
concerning him. He was our countryman; we were proud of his genius. 
He was a Virginian; we had a property in his fame. He was generous 
and gentle and good; our love of his virtues was superior to all other 
emotions concerning him. Able in command, magnanimous in victory, 
his biographer may maintain that it was in defeat that he rose to a 
sublime greatness which formed the grand climax to his brilliant career 
and fixed his rank as the first military man of his day. We can do 
nothing here to add to his renown. He built for himself an enduring 
monument. History will inscribe upon its tablet "immortal." We can 
only mingle our tears with the thousands of his admiring countr\-men 
who mourn his death. 



IN MEMOR/AM. 

Mr. Chairman, I am instructed b)- tlie committee representini;' tlie 
citizens of Louisville to offer these resolutions: 

In tlie interest of republican government, wliicli, tci lie genuine, must sjiring Ticim the 
wliole people; in the interest of an all-embracing American sentiment which can not 
safely ignore the claims of any American citizen on account of acts and opinions not in 
themselves unworthy; and in the interest of that national unity and peace which, if lasting 
and beneficent, must be constructed on the most liberal ami universal principles of modern 
civilization; the city of Louisville lias asseinliled, in its character of free community, \o 
express in a formal manner a sorrow that is not only public, the result of a public loss, 
but also individual, tlie result of a prevailing sense of a personal bereavement. It is our 
opinion that popular culture, the basis of popular virtue and social order and sound gov- 
ernment, is l)est encouraged and diffused by the prompt am! cordial recognition of eminent 
\irlues in eminent men; and that this rule, which is deep-set in a wise public policy, 
becomes a duty when, from any circumstance, the claims of a great citizen are likely to 
be obscured or divided in public esteem. The Union which survives the vicissitudes that 
belong to human nature is still, we think, a common Union, transmitted to us by our fathers, 
and so long as it is a free and peaceful Union its ln^nors are the properl)- of all the people; 
and it is impolitic, as well as unjust, to make invidious discriminations, ba^ed ujion current 
prejudices wdiich are unlikely to endure. The interests of American liberty require that we 
should establish a standard of national adjustment in harmony with the system of govern- 
ment under which we li\e, and the instincts of American manhoocl command us to make 
no distinction in valuing those (qualities which adorn the American character. 

Theref<ire the people of Louisville, occupying a miildlc place in the geography of the 
country, and holding this middle ground between opposing extremes, have come together at 
the bidding of a spontaneous patriotic impulse to declare: 

First, that we recognize in the character of RoiSERT E. Lee qualities of head and heart 
which should make all men proud to have been his fellow-countrymen; probity, chastity, 
godliness; a soul sincere and faithful; a mind upright and elevated; a disposition earnest and 
tranquil; a bearing through wdiich the grace of a god-like spirit shone; realizing in all his 
walks and ways of life the character sketched by Paul — "blameless, vigilant, sober, of good 
l;)eha\ior, apt to teach, not given to filthy lucre.'' 

."Vnd second, that in the career of General Lee we behold the illustration of these great 
private virtues in situations always responsible and often trying and calamitous: skill and 
temperance and courage in the field ; discretion, patience, and courtesy in the council ; 
fortitude and dignity in defeat; a citizen without ambition; a man without reproach; a 
soldier wdio commended himself to the respect of his adversaries and to the admiration of 
the world, lacking iKjthing which could add to his fame except good fortune. Therefcire 
be it 

Resolved, that in the death of Robert E. Lee the American people, without regard to 
states or sections or antecedents or opinions, lose a great and good man, a distinguished 
and Useful citizen, renowned not less in arms than in the arts of jieace ; and tliat the cause 
of public instruction and popular culture is deprived of a representative wdiose influence 
and example will be felt by the youth of our country for long ages after the passions in 

9 



IN MEMORIAM. 



the midst of which he was engaged, but which lie did not share have pa.sed into hi , 
and the pe.e and Maternity of the American Ke„„Uic are cen 'ntrr^ .::. ^I; 
liroadest and purest American sentiment. esioiea D) tlie 

ResoUed, tlmt a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to the familv of r 



GENERAL BRECKINRIDGE'S REMARKS. 

Mr. PKE.SIDEXT, Lad:e.s and GENTI.EME^: If from any cause it has 
been supposed that I a,n to deh-ver a set address to-night, I can only say 
that I ant not responsible for the origin of the supposition. I am here 
s.mpiy to mingle my grief M-ith yours at the ]o.ss of an illustrious 
ct.zen. Indeed I am more inclined to silence than to speech- for my 
m.nd ,s preoccupied by busy memories which call up in review the 
frequent and immense vicissitudes which have marked the last ten years 
I fi.id myself in the presence of a vast assemblage of the people of this 
great and beautiful city, who meet together without distinction of party 
to express their respect for the memory of the matt who was the leader 
of he Confederate armies in the late war between the states. This is in 
.tself the omen of real reunion. I am not surprised at such a spectacle 
pt-esented here; for although at the close of the war it seemed to me 
from n.y dtstant stand-point that every element of anarchy was assembled 
w.th.n the bosom of the commonwealth, yet happily, so g,-eat were the 
prudence moderation, and magnanimity of the people, the political 
ad socal relations ,n Kentucky will cot.pare favorably with those of 
other states. 

Not in Kentucky alone, but throughout the whole South, a universal 
and spo..taneous cr>. of grief has broken forth at the death of General 
Lee; and to the honor of human justice and charity, in nearly every 
part of the North manly and ttoble tributes have been paid to his 
memory. Let us try to learn a lesson fron. these events 

My words shall be brief but plain. Why is it that at the South we 
see these ur^tversal spontaneous demonstrations .p First, because most 
of the people mourn the loss of an honored leader and a friend- but 



I.Y AIEMORIAM. 

beyond that, as it seems to me, they embody a perhaps unconscious 
protest against the ascription either to him or to them of treason or 
personal dishonor; a protest against the employment b)- a portion of 
the public press of epithets which have ceased to be used in private 
intercourse. These demonstrations involve no vain and useless repin- 
ings at the result of the great struggle, but are the symbols of a noble 
grief, which is an honor to any people, and when properly interpreted 
they are an in\-itation to reunion and harmony upon the only principle 
on which we can be a free confederacy — a recognition of the feelings, 
the equalit)-, and the rights of all. They are an invitation to the w hole 
people, if there be any remaining rancor in their bosoms, to bury it 
forever in the grave of Lee. 

I will not discuss or recall the past. It is for the pen of the impar- 
tial historian to delineate the causes, progress, and consequences of the 
amazing contest. In regard to those who followed General Lee, sharing 
alike his glories and misfortunes, I have onl)- this to say: in obedience 
to their firm convictions and traditional teachings they waged a war 
which the world saw and yet testifies of; being overcome, they accepted 
the results of their defeat and \ielded a calm j-et proud submission ; as 
to the rest, the conquerors themselves, for their own glory, must confess 
that they were bra\'e. 

Neither am I here to speak of the military career of General Lee. 
His feats of arms, in connection with those of his great adversaries, not 
only fill this hemisphere, but in the Old World are known from the 
Arctic Circle to the Cape, and from the Pillars of Hercules to the Indian 
Ocean. His surviving comrades need not vaunt the achievements of 
one whose renown as a soldier has made the circuit of the earth. It is 
of him as a man and a citizen that I desire to utter a few earnest words, 
which are the less necessary after the thrilling and affectionate delinea- 
tions to which most of you listened this morning. All men know that 
he was great, noble, and self-poised, but by many he is supposed to have 
been, though just, yet apathetic and cold; yet I do not hesitate to declare 
that the warmth of his heart and the depth of his affections were, to 
those who knew him well, amontj; the most striking of his characteristics. 



IN MEMORIAM. 



For the last year of the wax it A\-as my fortune to be thrown much with 
him, and during the two months immediately preceding the fall of 
Richmond our respective duties made our intercourse close and con- 
stant. It was under these tr>nng circumstances that I came fully to 
know and appreciate his heart and character. In those long and painful 
interviews he stood revealed to me a considerate, kind, gentle, firm, 
Christian gentleman. I can not adequately express to you the vast 
emotion that dwelt beneath his calm exterior. I can convey no better 
idea of the impression he made upon me than to say that he inspired 
me with an ardent love for his person and a profound \-eneration for his 
character. O, my friends, it was so massive, noble, and grand in its 
proportions that the most heroic might be proud to bear it; yet so gentle 
and tender that woman might claim and adopt it for her own. If the 
spirit which animates the assembly before me to-night shall become 
general and extend over the whole country, then indeed may we say 
that the wounds of the late war are truly healed. We ask only for him 
what we concede to the manly qualities of others. Among the more 
eminent of the Federal generals who fell during the war or have since 
died may be mentioned Thomas and McPherson. What Confederate 
would refuse to raise his cap as their funeral-trains passed b}-, or grudge 
to drop a flower upon their soldier-graves? And why? Because they 
were men of courage and honor, true to their convictions of right, and 
soldiers whose hands were unstained by cruelty or pillage. 

Let us understand and truly interpret the causes of the extraordinary 
honors offered b\' all ranks of society and all shades of opinion to the 
memory of General Lee. Why this vast and mixed audience assembled 
to deplore his loss ? Why do you preside, sir, who neither shared all 
his convictions nor approved the methods by which he sought to main- 
tain them? I venture to answer that it is because his intellect was large 
and sound; because his heart was great and good; because his piety was 
humble and sincere; because he ever exhibited fortitude in adversity 
and clemency in victory; because he was a .stainless gentleman; because, 
after the last supreme effort was finished, with incomparable dignity and 
patience he taught his prostrate comrades how to suffer and be strong; 



IN MEMORIAM. 

ami finally, because b\' the assemblage in himself of valor, moderation, 
wisdom, truth, self-control, and all their associate \qrtues, he «as an 
honor to the age in which he lived, and presented a fit model for the 
imitation of his own and all succeeding times. 

His future place in historj- is not doubtful. For a time there will 
be those here and there who, enraged at beholding the calm and steady 
luster of his character, will assail it with malignant fur)-; \-et histor}' 
will declare that the remains which repose to-night in the vault beneath 
the little chapel in that lovely Virginia valley are not merely those of a 
matchless soldier, but also of a great and good American. 



REMARKS OF GENERAL JOHN W. FINNELL. 

Mr. Ch.\irman, L.adies and Gextle.men: It is written in the hearts 
of the brave and generous in every land that in the august presence of 
death the rivalries and animosities that are begotten in the arena of busy- 
life are remembered no longer. This vast multitude, representing all 
classes and conditions in society, has assembled to-night to give ex- 
pression to a just homage to the character of an illustrious citizen. 
No divergence in opinion or in action between him and a large number 
of those now here has operated to keep them awa}-. 

As the leader of the armies of the South in the late fearfiil ci\il 
war General Robert E. Lee became the idol of the people whose cause 
he espoused. Everywhere in all that land, in the hour of defeat as in 
the hour of \'ictor\-, the name of General Lee was a tower of strength. 
No disaster dimmed the luster of his name, nor did defeat shake the 
confidence of his followers. There was a prestige in his presence rarely 
equaled, never excelled, by that of any military leader of modern times. 
Indeed it may be said of him, 

" He nothing lackeil in suliliersliip 
Except good fortune." 

But it is not of his military career I would speak. That is too 
recent and too familiar to be dwelt upon. Wrong as I then and now 



IN MEMORIAM. 

believe his course was, no one doubts, I imagine, that he acted from a 
clear conviction of duty; and thouyli his military career ended in 
disaster it did not end in dishonor. It is, however, of Robert E. Lee 
shorn of power, stripped of the trappings of war, away from the roar 
and carnage of battle, standing out against the horizon as a man, a 
Christian goit/ciiia/t, it is that view of him to which we may point our 
children; it is that view which challenges the admiration of the civilized 
world. Great as lie confessedly was in war, how infinitely greater was 
he in peace! The luster of his military achievements grow dim before 
the halo that surrounds his life as a private citizen. Conscious himself, 
as any one could be, of his great services to the people whose battles 
he had fought, he persistently, yet with modesty and becoming dignity, 
put away from himself all proffered public honors and displays. Turn- 
ing away from the field where defeat had buried the cause for which he 
fought, he earnestly but quietly devoted himself to the building up of a 
great institution of learning in his native state, and to that work bent 
all his energies. His efforts were crowned with almost unexampled 
success. Hundreds of the youth of the land flocked to his school. 
New life seemed to be given to the soldier-teacher, and the future was 
full of promise to him and his associates. Putting the past far behind 
him, he embarked in this enterprise with the ardor of youth. It was 
there he fell ; on the threshold of this new and most honorable and 
useful career he was stricken down; and it was there in this new 
career that the excellences of his character shone out in such winning 
colors. He is dead ! The people mourn : some of them as for an idolized 
and favorite leader; others for a cherished but erring son, yet one whose 
moderation and dignity, whose nianl}- bearing and Christian forbearance, 
have won an oblivion of the past, and all unite in a sorrow deep, sincere, 
heartfelt. General Lee'.s name and fame as a man and a Christian is the 
rightful inheritance of men everywhere who love honor, cherish truth, 
and venerate true manhood ; it belongs to no party, to no section ; it 
is the common propert_y of us all. 

And, my fellow-citizens, what fitter occasion than the present — here, 
we may say, in the presence of the dead, the leader of the armies of the 

14 



IN MEAfOKJAA/. 

South — what fitter occasion, I say, than this to offer, here and now, 
upon the altar our liearts here build to the mcniory of this good man 
and Christian, as an acceptable sacrifice, all the animosities, all the 
bitterness and the heart-burnings of the past, and dedicate, with one 
accord, our offerings to a renewed "harmon\- and concord," to "peace 
and her \ictories." And will not the incense of such an offering reach 
the throne of Him who proclaimed "peace on earth and good-will to 
men?" Nay, will it not bring joy to the hearts of our Lee, our Thomas, 
our Jackson, and our McPherson, once comrades, then estranged; but, 
ma)' we not hope, reunited in that brighter, that better and more 
beautiful land which lies be)'ond the grave. 



SPEECH OF GENERAL PRESTON. 

INIk. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I feel that it would be 
ver}' difficult for me to add any eulogy to that which is contained in the 
resolutions of the committee, or a more merited tribute of praise than 
that which has already fallen from the lips of the gentlemen who have 
preceded me. Yet on an occasion like this I am willing to come for- 
ward and add a word to testify m\- appreciation of the great virtues and 
admirable character of one who commands not onl)- our admiration, but 
that of the entire countiy. Not alone of the entire country, but his 
character has excited more admiration in Europe than among ourselves. 
In coming ages his name will be illustrious, and one of the richest 
treasures of the future. I speak of one just gone down to death; ripe 
in all the attributes of manhood, and illustrious bj- deeds the most 
remarkable that have occurred in the history of America since its 
discovery. It is now some two and twenty years since I first made the 
acquaintance of General Lee. He was in the prime of manhood in 
Mexico, and I first saw him as the chief engineer of General .Scott in the 
valle\- of Mexico. I see around me two old comrades who then knew 
General Lee. He was a man of remarkable personal beauty and great 
grace of body. He had a finished form, delicate hands, and graceful 

15 



IN MEMOR/AM. 

person, while here and tliere a gray hair streaked with its sihx-r Hning 
the dark locks with which nature had clothed his noble brow. There 
were discerning minds then that appreciated his genius and saw in him 
the coming captain of America. His commander and his comrades 
appreciated his ability. To a club which was then organized he 
belonged, together with General McClellan, General Beauregard, and a 
host of others. They recognized in Lee a master-spirit. 

He was never violent; never wrangled; was averse to quarreling, 
and not a single difficulty marked his career; but all acknowledged his 
justness, his fortitude, and wonderful evenness of mind. Rare intelli- 
gence combined with these qualities served to make him a fit repre- 
sentative of his great prototype, General Washington. He was a 
graduate of West Point, and had been accomplished by every finish 
that a thorough military education could bestow. 

I remember when General Lee was appointed lieutenant-colonel, 
at the same time that Albert Sydney Johnston was appointed colonel, 
and General Scott thought that Lee should have been colonel. I 
talked with General Scott on the subject long before the late struggle 
between the North and South took place, and he then said that Lee was 
the greatest living soldier in America. He did not object to the othe 



LM' 



commissions, saying he thought them the best soldiers of the army, but 

he thought Lee should be first promoted. Finally, he said to me with 

emphasis: "I tell you that if I were on my death-bed to-morrow, 

and the President of the United States should tell me that a great battle 

was to be fought for the liberty or slavery of the country and asked my 

judgment as to the ability of a commander, I would say with my dying 

breath let it be Robert E. Lee." Ah! great soldier that he was; 

princely general that he was, he has fulfilled his mission and borne it so 

that no invidious tongue can level the shafts of calumny at the great 

character which he has left behind him. 

But, ladies and gentlemen, it was not in this only that the matchless 

attributes of his character were found. You have assembled here not 

so much to do honor to General Lee as to testif)- your appreciation 

of the worth of his principles; and if the minds of this assemblage 

i6 



IN MEMORIAM. 

were explored \-ou would find there was a gentleness and grace in his 
character which had won }-our love and brought forth testimonials 
of universal admiration. Take but a single instance. At the battle 
of Gettysburg, after the attack on the cemeter)', when his troops 
were repulsed and beaten, the men threw up their muskets and said: 
"General, we have failed, and it is our f:iult." "No, ni)' men," said he; 
"\-ou have done well. It is ni)' fault; I am to blame, and no one but 
me." What man is there that would not have gone to renewed death 
for such a leader? So, when we examine his whole character, it is 
in his priwate life that we find his true greatness: the Christian sim- 
plicit)- of his character in his great veneration for truth; and in ,'i serene 
nobility the grand elements of his greatness. What man could have 
laid down his sword at the feet of a victorious general with greater 
dignity than did he at Appomattox Court-house? He even in calamity- 
secured for his soldiers the best terms that fortune would permit. In 
that he displa}-ed marked greatness seldom shown by great captains. 
After the battle of Sedan the wild cries of the citizens of Paris went 
out for the blood of the Emperor; but at Appomattox veneration and 
lo\-e only shone from the eyes of the troops who looked upon their 
Commander. 

I \\\\\ not trespass upon your time much further. When I last saw 
him the raven hair had turned white. In a small \illage church his 
re\'erent head was bowed in prayer. The humblest step was that of 
Robert E. Lee as he entered the portals of the temple erected to God. 
In broken responses he answered to the services of the church. Noble, 
sincere, and humble in his religion, he showed forth his true character 
near the close of his life in laying aside his sword to educate the youth 
of his country. Never did he appear more noble than at that time. He 
is now gone and rests in peace. He has crossed that mysterious stream 
that Stonewall Jackson saw with inspired eyes when he asked that he 
might be permitted to take his troops across the river and forever rest 
beneath the shadows of the trees. 

17 



IN MEMOR/AM. 



THE BOARD OF TRADE. 

The Board of Trade held a meeting on the afternoon of tlie 14th. 
President J. J. Porter called the meeting to order and stated that the 
object of the meeting was to take appropriate action in regard to the 
melancholy intelligence of the death of General Robert E. Lee. 

Mr. V. P. Armstrong moved that a committee of three be appointed 
to draft resolutions expressing the sense of the Board of Trade in 
regard to the death of General Roijert V.. Lee. The motion was 
carried, and President Porter appointed Messrs. Vene P. Armstrong, 
Andrew Graham, and E. W. Kennedy as the committee, who pre- 
sented the following preamble and resolutions, which were unanimously 
adopted : 

Wliereas, feeling in common with our fellow-citizens throughout the land the great loss 
we have sustained in the death of General Robert E. Lee, we, as the Board of Trade of 
this city, should unite in the universal testimonial of sorrow and grief at the deatli of this 
great and good man ; it is therefore 

Resolved, that our usual business be suspended, and that the members of this Board be 
requested to assemble at the Board of Trade rooms in time to attend in a l.)ody upon the 
funeral services, to be held at such time and place as shall be designated. 

Resolved, that this Board adjourn until Monday next, at half past twelve o'clock, v. M., 
in consideration of this national calamity. 

iS 



IN SIEMOKIAM. 



THE PRESS. 

Henry Watterson's leader in the " Courier-Journal " of October 13, 1S70. 
THE DEAD CHIEFTAIN. 

The announcetriLnt of the death of Robert E. Lee this morning will 
startle newspaper readers everywhere. Although the event was fore- 
shadowed by the tidings which came to us from Lexington a few days 
ago, the public mind had taken pause upon it, and hope at least deferred 
its realization. The telegram which this issue of the Courier-Journal 
conveys to the country ends the anxiety occasioned by the first news of 
his illness, and closes the career of a man who will be recognized as the 
most eminent of the contemporary soldiers of America. 

We are quite sure that we do not overestimate the character of 
General Lee or the place he will occupy in the annals of his time. We 
are writing late at night, and in answer to a most unlooked-for and dis- 
turbing teleeram; but we are conscious of no sectional or partisan 
inspiration. As a soldier in the old army, as the chief of the soldiers of 
the Confederate army, this man commended himself first to the respect 
of his comrades and then to the admiration of his kind. It is possible 
that General Lee was not so great an organizer as General Johnston ; 
that he was not so great a strategist as General Jackson ; that he lacked 
the distinguishing characteristics of Charles of Sweden and of Napoleon 
Bonaparte. He was certainly not a Cffisar or a Charlemagne. He lived 
in different times; his lot was cast in the midst of a different people. 
But when the mind runs back in a historic spirit over the achievements 

19 



IN MEMOR/AM. 

that signalized the genius and prowess of ancient and modern warfare; 
over the noble victories of Alexander and Wellington; over the splendid 
adversities of Philip, Hannibal, and Maurice de Saxe ; over the civic 
triumphs of Cromwell and Washington, of Old Hickory and of Grant; 
it will confess that Robert E. Lee carved out of fortune for himself a 
place imposing and exceptional. He was in every way a picked man. 
In personal appearance, in personal endowments, in peculiar qualities of 
head and lieart, he shone conspicuous. He was a more lovable and a 
more brilliant man than Washington, at the same time that he com- 
bined the moderation, self-sacrificing spirit, and directness of purpose 
which dignified and adorned the character of the Father of his Country. 
General Lee was a most genuine and undoubting Southerner. He cared 
nothing about the politics of the Confederacy. He accepted the battle 
when the battle began without asking who began it or what was its 
source or object. He believed it to be a fight for the defense of his 
native land and people, and he fought it to the end with a courage, with 
a skill, with a patience, with a humanit}' which have been rarely dis- 
played by the commander of great armies. 

Down to the surrender of the Confederate forces the career of General 
Lee was that of an eminent officer and a thoroughly good man. What 
shall be said of his conduct since the surrender? We put it to all men, 
but we put it more particularly to the impartial intelligence of the 
northern people — and we put it as at once an emblem and a hostage ot 
southern genius and valor — to say whether the history of the world 
presents another spectacle so rotund and beautiful. It is impossible 
to do justice to the character and conduct of this man in adversity; 
his modest bearing and unobtrusive spirit; his patient zeal and sunny 
earnestness in marking out a pathway for energies that could not be 
quenched by sorrow and defeat; his thorough abstinence from all vain- 
glorious, entangling public appearances ; his manly self-denial and 
graceful recognition of actual facts. But one other name in our history 
bears a near relationship with his, and that the name of his kinsman, 
George Washington. It is an honor to America, and it ought to be a 
pride with every American, to feel that two such names belong to his 



IN AfEMOK/A.tr. 

country and to him, and arc a part of the national heritage. There is 
not a radical in the land; there is not a partisan from Cape Cod to the 
Pacific seas, who has not an interest in the fame of this great Virginian; 
and if the secret heart of every American citizen could be probed to-da}' 
it would be found that there is not a man on the continent who will not 
read the tidings of his death with a feeling that the Republic has lost a 
citizen, not that the South has lost a partisan. 

In the South there will be sadness indeed; and as the demonstrations 
of sorrow which will proceed out of every hamlet and home and be 
manifested in every public place contain a meaning distinct and unecjuiv- 
ocal, it is proper that this should be in advance made plain. The countr}- 
must not be deceived into misconception by unworthy explanations or 
b)' cunning interpretations, done by partisans for a partisan interest 
and in a partisan spirit. The people of the South have a sentiment at 
heart higher even than their political well-being; a sentiment that has 
hardened to a conviction ; a sentiment that has formed itself down in 
the depths of every one of us, ascending thence like a monument on 
which the images of the past, images of sorrow and of glory, images 
of heroes and of hopes, images of loves and griefs and triumphs and 
disappointments, dear and blessed images, are carved in lines which 
can never be and ought never to be erased. The death of the best- 
loved Confederate soldier brings us, as it were, face to face with this 
beautiful and sacred but broken shaft which misfortune has set up 
within us; and as the funeral ceremonies, like torches about an ancient 
grave, lighten the gloom and disclose the figures and inscriptions, we 
shall not be misjudged if we undertake a not unreasoning reassertion 
of our own record, which is, in a certain sense, epitomized in the record 
of Robert E. Lee. 

There can never be genuine peace in this countr\', and the freemen 
of the North can rest assured that there will never be any genuine 
republicanism, as long as the South is required, either by the national 
spirit or by political interest, to go back upon physical antecedents 
which embrace nothing that does not glorify the character of American 
manhood. To those partisans, or rather to those mercenaries, who 



IN ME.VORIAM. 

would use the death of Lee as an occasion for needless assaults upon 
the cause whicli he maintained with so much integrity and courage we 
ha\'e merely to say : 

" Wolf of the weald and yellow-footed kite, 
Enough is spread for you of meaner prey." 

We feel sure, however, that of this sort there will be few examples; 
and, as we have faith in the culture and the rectitude of the head 
and the heart of the South, we trust largely in the liberality, the good- 
fellowship, and the just principles of the great body of northern people, 
who, like ourselves, are American citizens, and ought to join with 
us and share with us in whatever graces our country. The old 
feudal notions of treason do not belong to our generation or to our 
institutions, and their influence on our mode of thinkingf and writine 
and talking about public affairs is not essential to the preservation of 
our unity or our freedom or our peace. If we wish to secure our 
future we must regard the war between the sections as a war of mistakes, 
but not of disgraces; as a war oxer an open question which we could not 
settle by debate, not a war in which all the right was arrayed on one side 
and all the wrong on the other; a war brought about by misconceptions 
and perversities the most miserable but the most honest, not a war of dis- 
lo\Mlt}" here and of conquest there ; a war in which each party was terribly 
sincere; a war, in short, which we may deplore, but of which we have no 
reason to be ashamed. We freely concede the generosity of the victo- 
rious North. The world has never witnessed terms so liberal extended 
to soldiers beaten in ci\il broil; and while we take into the account the 
manifest interest which prompted the North to be generous, to say 
nothing about the obligations she owed her record and the civilization 
of our epoch, we grudge her none of our gratitude and respect. If the 
most successful of her soldiers should die to-morrow, as Farragut died 
but yesterda}' — although Grant is involved in current and violent partisan 
entanglements, and it is our daily business and duty to show how he 
made a better general than he makes a president — we should forget the 
wrangles of the hour, and should only remember that when he won the 



/.V MEMORIAM. 

sword of Lee he bore himself like a gentleman and a man of honor, as 
we would have every American bear himself And, standing here by 
the gra\'e of this brave Virginian, we say — and we speak for Davis and 
Breckinridge and Buckner and Duke and Brown of Tennessee and 
Forrest and Preston and a hundred more — that there is nothing we ask 
for our hern that we are unwilling or unready to give to yours. Let 
that be the guarantee of our fidelit)" to our engagements and our absti- 
nence from all warlike revenges when we add that we regret nothing 
but our failure, and that we shall not regret that when the peace and 
liberty of the Union, purified and modernized and restored, are assured 
to every American citizen. 

With this feeling we gather about the dead body of R(.)bert E. 
Lee. He was the idol of the South. The southern people believed 
him to be the greatest and the best of men; they followed him un- 
doubting to the end; and these ceremonies belong to their affections. 
Out from the brown woods, down from the dapple skies, troops of 
fancies come and go; fancies that are all tinted by sorrow as the leaves 
are tinted by the season ; melancholy but noble fancies, whose form and 
body went out long ago in the smoke of disastrous battles. The' North 
must deal gently by these sensibilities, for outside of our country civil- 
ized nations recognize their justice and their truth. One touch of 
sorrow makes the whole world kin. But this is a touch of sorrow 
which is intertwisted with other sorrows; with sorrows unknown and 
unseen ; the sorrow which private griefs join to public calamities and 
national distress. The tenderness and dignity of this man ; his beautiful 
spirit in the field and by the fireside; his benign yet stately presence; his 
moderation; his loyalty; his simplicity ; the fortunes and the misfortunes 
through which he passed; all bring up before us dear ones of whom the 
world knows nothing, but who fought and fell with him. This sentiment 
is the more acute because of misfortune, and because also of a certain 
restraint which a mistaken public policy has put upon the discretion of 
the people. There was an outcropping of this false spirit in a Cincinnati 
journal when General Lee's illness was first announced, and we dare 

say it will show itself elsewhere, for good feeling is not universal. 

23 



/A' MEA/OAVA.V. 

The representative journals of the North should put it down. It is not 
worthy the people who are most truly represented when represented by 
the magnanimity of Horace Greeley and the gentle charity of John 
Greenleaf Whittier. 

Readers of Philip Van Artevelde will remember that after the great 
Ghentish leader was slain the Duke of Bourbon wished the body to 
be nailed to a tree that all might see it. There are those who would 
thus hang up the effigy of the great Virginian. But the rebuke of the 
Duke of Burgundy to the Duke of Bourbon is the reply of the genuine 
soldier as we believe it to be the .sense of the great body of the northern 
people : 

" No, brother, no; 

It were not for our honor, nor the King's, 
To use it so. Dire rebel though he was. 
Yet with a noble nature and great gifts 
Was lie endowed — courage, discretion, zeal, 
An equal temper and an ample soul, 
Rock-bound and fortified against assaults 
Of transitory passion; but below. 
Built on a surging, subterraneous fire. 
That stu-red and lifted him to high attempts. 
So prompt and capable and yet so calm. 
He nothing lack'd in soldiership 
E.Kcept good fortune. 

Wherefore with honor lay him in his gi'ave. 
And thereby shall increase of honor come 
Unto their arms who vanquished one so wise. 
So valiant, so renowned." 

This, it seems to us, is the spirit for the North, and we believe it 
to be the spirit .•'/" the North. Upon our faith in it we ground not onl)- 
the liberalism with which we are credited, but our confidence in the 
future of our country; and as we look forward to nothing but the 
national life and the national union, made free to all men, we claim the 
right to look back with pride upon the war record of the South and 
to honor its warriors. There must be no proscription in this land of 
ours. We are too young a people to allow Old-world feudalism to 
creep into our dialect, much less iiito our system; and as we pretend 

24 



IN MEMOK/AM. 

to be free ourselves, we can not afford to allow the enslavement or the 
degradation of any class. The North must not seek to subdue the 
spirit of the South, and the South must seek to elevate the spirit of 
that element which it is the bounden duty of us all to protect unto 
the end that a new compact may form itself out of our reason and our 
better nature, and not out of the avarice of political interest and the 
ignorance of popular passion. 

Thus shall our trials be merely the tests of our virtue; thus shall 
our losses turn to glorious uses ; thus shall we make the present 
tolerable by tolerance, and so 

" Enrich the time to come with smooth-faced peace, 
With smiling plenty, and fair, prosperous days." 



From the "Louisville Commercial," October 15, 1S70. 
HONORS TO GENERAL LEE. 

The funeral of General Lee will take place to-day, and all through 
the South evidences of respect for his memory and of the affection in 
which he was held by the southern people will be exhibited by a 
general suspension of business and special commemorative services. 
This was to be expected. That the people of the South should revere 
the great soldier who stood their main bulwark for so many years of war 
is no more than natural ; anything less from them would savor some- 
what of ingratitude. The regret to which such general expression will 
be given to-day is beyond doubt deep and sincere. The same qualities 
that made his soldiers love and revere him won for General Lee the 
warm and affectionate regard of the people of his section. He was 
eminently a man to attract them. Of an old and distinguished family, 
of high social position, of magnificent physique, of the purest private 
character, thoroughly accomplished both as a soldier and a gentleman, 
brilliant as a man, and their most conspicuous general in a struggle in 

25 



I.V MEMORIAM. 

which all their sympathies were aroused, it is no wonder that they 
mourn his death. 

The demonstration in Louisville will be as marked as elsewhere. 
It is creditable to the mayor and to the gentlemen who have taken a 
leading part in inaugurating the proceedings to be had here that they 
have studiously endeavored to divest them, as far as possible, of all 
sectional and political bias. It would be well for the country if the 
heart-burnings and dissensions to which the war gave rise could be 
buried out of sight in the graves of the great leaders who are passing 
one by one from among us, and the disposition shown here by those 
most anxious to do General Lee honor will, we believe, tend to that 
result. It is no fault of theirs that it is impossible to go as far in that 
direction as they show a desire to go. General Lee is too essentially 
a representative man for that. His private character has always com- 
manded the respect of the nation, and that feeling has been heightened 
by the eminent propriety of his conduct since the close of the war. 
Therefore those who condemned his course most bitterly can on this 
day, when dust returns to dust again, pay to his memorj' the tribute of 
silence about his great fault. In the midst of ceremonies in his honor 
by those who love him for his deeds as well as for himself, more should 
not be asked of those who disapprove much that he did all the more 

because it was he who did it. 

26 



I.V MEMORIAyr. 



EX-CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS. 



As soon as advised of General Lee's death a number of Confederate 
soldiers residing in the city held a meeting at the Louisville Hotel, to 
take appropriate action in relation thereto. Committees were appointed 
to wait upon the General Council and request the cooperation of the 
city in making arrangements for the proper observance of the funeral ; 
to request the citizens to close their houses of business; to request the 
ministers of all the churches in the city to have their church-bells tolled, 
and order other ceremonies appropriate and proper; and to suggest to 
the Chief of the Fire Department that the fire-bells be tolled during the 
funeral services. 

A special meeting was called for the evening of October 13th, at 
the court-house, and a committee instructed to duly extend notices of 
the fact. 

At the night meeting the attendance was large. The meeting was 
called to order by Major Clinton McClarty, who announced that it was 
a meeting adjourned from the morning, and that arrangements would be 
perfected to testify the soldiers' regard for their late Commander. 

On motion. Rev. W. H. Piatt was requested to deliver a funeral 
oration at eleven o'clock on the morrow at St. Paul's Church. 

A committee appointed to notify Mr. Piatt of the appointment soon 
reported his acceptance. It was decided to attend the funeral services 
as a body in procession. 

A meeting was appointed for Monday night at Masonic Temple, 
and the following-named gentlemen instructed to report appropriate 
resolutions: Messrs. P. B. Scott, S. B. Buckner, \V. L. Jackson, 

B. W. Duke, and Wm. J. Davis. 

27 



IN MEMOKIAM. 

On the niglit of October 17th the following resolutions were reported 
by the committee and adopted: 

Whereas, it lias pleased God to call fnnn the field of his usefulness the patriot-soldier, 
the acciim]ilislied gentleman, and the exemplary Christian, General Robert E. Lee: 

Resoh ed, that we, formerly soldiers in the armies of the Confederate States, while bowing 
in humility to the dispensations of an all-wise Providence, can not restrain the utterances of 
our sorrow at the affliction which has thus suddenly licfallen us in the death of our late beloved 
Commander. 

Resolved, that in the character of General Robert E. Lee, whether he be viewed as a 
soldier battling for the right, as a citizen unobtrusively pursuing the useful paths of civil life, 
or as a Christian gentleman, furnishing in his acts an example for our imitation, w-e recoiniize 
that type of true greatness, so complete in itself that the highest station could not add to its 
luster, and so exalted that it claims the admiration of mankind and commands the love and 
reverence of all wdio have followed him in his illustrious career. 

Resohed, that, wdiile giving imperfect expression to our sorrow, we extend to the afflicted 
family of our deceased Commander our heartfelt sympathies in their bereavement; for, while 
the world has lost an ornament of which civilization should be proud, they have been suddenly 
bereft of one whose daily life was an exemplification of the imperishable virtues which dignify 
human nature and beautify and make sacred the influences of home. 

Resolved, that, as a testimonial of respect to the memory of one we loved so well while 
living, we ^^■ear the customary badge of mourning during thirty days. 

Resolved, that the chairman of this meeting transmit a copy of these resolutions to the 
family of our late lieloved General. 

Resolved, that in the transmission of these resolutions the chairman of this meeting be 
requested to accompany the same with a letter to Mrs. Lee expressive of the sense of peculiar 
personal sorrow felt by his soldiers in view of the death of General Lee. 



LETTER ACCOMPANYING THE RESOLUTIONS. 

LOUISVILLE. OCTOBER, 1870. 

Mv De.\r Sir: At a meeting of officers and soldiers of the late 
Confederate army, now residing in this cit}', over which I was recently 
called to preside, upon the occasion of the death of }-our father. General 
Robert E. Lee, certain resolutions were adopted which I was directed 
in their behalf to transmit to his family. A copy of these resolutions 
you will find inclosed. 

In discharging this sad duty I trtist you will permit me to say that, 
amidst the uni\-ersal evidences of admiration and respect shown by the 



IN MEMORf.-lM. 

whole country for tlie character of General Lee, we, once his soltliers 
and officers, heard tlie intellii^jence with profound sorrow. Around the 
great and good soldier whose death we deplore the strongest convic- 
tions of patriotic duty and the noblest ho]5es of freemen once clustered. 
Animated by his genius, we bore e\"er\' priwition with fortitude; with 
him memories of great victories and glorious deeds in arms are insej)- 
arabh' associated; and the dignity of his life, undejected b\' calamity, 
yet inspires in our hearts that constant love which adversit)' never 
diminished and death now consecrates. 

I have the honor to remain, with the deepest sympathy and respect, 

your obedient servant. 

W. Pre.stox. 

Gencrnl Ci'STis Lkk, Lexiiii^tun, Viit;inia. 

A committee was appointed to collect and publish in appropriate 
form the x-arious tributes of respect offered to the niemor)' of General 
Robert E. Lee bv the citizens of Louis\-ilIe. 



SPEECH OF GENERAL PRESTON. 

Friends and Comr.\des: The hom.ir is deeply appreciated by me of 
being called upon to preside over you this evening for the solemn pur- 
pose of declaring our sorrow at the death of General Lee. Amidst the 
general regret of the people, I trust it ma\^ not be inappropriate to 
observe that the sentiment created among us, who were once his soldiers 
and officers, must be naturally deeper than the general admiration and 
respect of men not so intimately associated with him during his life. 
It is true that we unite with all who admire heroic deeds and gentle 
virtues in testif)'ing our reverence and love for Rohert Lee; but his 
loss must come more poignantly to us who erewhile followed his 
standard, but now lament his death. It is therefore right that we should 
in this separate meeting testifx- our lo\-e and respect for the dead. In 

another aspect it is proper. The military career of General Lee was 

29 



IN MEMORIAM. 

illustrious b)' his deeds, but his life closed in ad\-ersity. Its shadows 
have not obscured his fame; and we, in offering the lieartfelt homage of 
our love and veneration, are not only consoled but encouraged b\' his 
course to imitate his great and good example. 

Robert Lee was fitted both by birth and education for a renowned 
career. His family was distinguished by its intelligence, courage, and 
patriotism, and rendered eminent service in the Resolution which 
separated the colonies from England. He inherited not onl\' these 
ancestral virtues, but nature endowed him with a form of great sym- 
metry and beauty and a mind of rare excellence. The benevolence of 
his disposition gave to his manners a polished and courtly grace which 
harmonized wonderful!)- with his serene and elevated character. He was 
closely connected with the famil_\' of Washington, and was the nearest 
representative of the illustrious Father of his Country. Lee inherited 
the moral virtues and lofty principles of the great Virginian, and his 
natural abilities were strengthened by a thorough military education at 
West Point, where he excelled his associates and stood first among his 
classmates. He was from earh' )-outh distinguished b}- unblemished 
morals, and a sincere and unaffected piety gave a matchless grace and 
dignity to the man. 

Such was Lee in Mexico, when he first became widely known as the 
chief engineer upon the staff of General Scott. His talents, his pro- 
fessional attainments, and his sincere character gave him great influence 
among his brother officers, so that, without seeming to desire to swa}' 
any opinions, no minci in the army exerted greater influence over the 
soldier)'. The General confided in him absolutely, and that confidence 
was justified by the brilliant services he rendered. It may indeed be said 
that his aid was essential to General Scott; that in a great measure the 
triumphs of our arms in the valley of Mexico may be attributed to his 
skill ; and that our acquisition of the golden coast of the Pacific is the 
offspring of his genius. 

It is well known among his comrades and friends that General Lee 
at the commencement of the war between the states was reluctant to 
take up arms; he hoped to avoid the fearful alternative of civil war; 

3° 



IN MEMORTAM. 

but when his native state, Virginia, finding lier territory was to be 
invaded, declared her separation from the Federal Union, true to his 
convictions of honor, patriotism, and duty, he drew his sword for her 
defense. At that time the talents and attainments of Lee were so 
highly appreciated that it may be said it was within his choice to com- 
mand either the Federal or Confederate army. I have heard it related, 
and believe it true, that about that time General Scott used all his 
influence to induce General Lee to remain in the Federal service. An 
old friendship and strong affection existed between them, cemented 
by their former intimacy in Mexico. At that period General Scott 
possessed great power and control in the government. He had devoted 
himself ardently to the cause of the Union; and his counsels in the first 
moments of irresolution had given purpose, plan, and nerve to the 
alarmed administration. He urged General Lee by every induce- 
ment that could fire the ambition of a soldier and by e\'ery persuasion 
friendship could suggest to remain in the Federal army, assuring liim 
that it would be placed under his supreme command; but all was in 
vain. Lee with gentle dignity arose and said, "Ah! General, would 
you, my friend, who know me so well, think to tempt me?" and left 
him forever. 

It is not my purpose, upon an occasion like the present, to examine 
or eulogize the military genius displayed by General Lee in the cam- 
paigns in Virginia. The historian ma\- hereafter record and the student 
read the annals of the war, in which the small and badly equipped 
armies of the Confederacy defeated and humiliated for four years the 
multitutlinous hosts of their enemies. The motives, the sacrifices, the 
sufferings, and the splendid victories of a brave people will yet be 
commemorated by learning and genius; but the events are too recent 
and the animosities too great to permit the facts to be considered in our 
time with impartiality or profit. An occasion like this should therefore 
teach us to give repose to such recollections, for the life of our great 
leader gives us an instructive example for our imitation. But while 
we feel the force of such reasons, on the other hand we must not by an 
over-haste to propitiate favor or avert oppression do aught that may be 



IN MEMORIAM. 

in violation of our own self-respect. Governed, in my belief, by as pure 
and noble motives as ever warmed the souls of freemen, we engaged in 
a dreadful and unequal war. In the mighty struggle we lost our worldly 
wealth, but not our honor. No enemy, however malevolent, can truth- 
fully say that we tamely relinquished our rights, or ever retreated before 
an equal force, or stained our victories by cruelty. When our General 
at Appomattox capitulated to five-fold his force the soldiers, without 
fear, flight, or disorder, and without murmur or reproach, grounded 
forever their arms at the order of their beloved Commander. Since that 
momentous day let the world attest the patience, the honor, and the 
fidelity with which all have observed the terms of surrender. The men, 
though abandoning forever many cherished hopes, consecrated by the 
lives of friends, kindred, and countrymen upon the battle-field, and by 
their own blood, so often and freely shed, laid down their arms and 
passed into the quiet pursuits of civil life. The General devoted at once 
his whole time to the education of the youth of the country. Both he 
and they by their industry and resignation and fortitude have given an 
example of a brave and dreaded army passing from war to peace without 
tumult, robbery, pillage, or the disorders following a long and bloody 
war, such as have been usual in disbanding great bodies of armed men. 
Their conduct has no parallel in history. The troops were animated b)' 
the truthful soul of their General ; and he was strengthened and sup- 
ported by the noble spirit of his soldiers. Throughout the country the 
same feeling governed our people. I see around me now, I behold 
every day in the streets, men in the apparel of mechanics, or engaged 
in humble avocations, who were once wealthy, and in the war often led 
serried battalions to victory. Their lands have been confiscated, their 
homes burned, their kindred slain; but no craven murmur is uttered, no 
unmanly repining, no vindictive threat spoken ; but we see them assem- 
bled here, and throughout the suffering South, with no language but 
that of love and veneration for our lamented chief O, great General, 
but still greater soldiers, it is not your chiefs who have given valor, 
fortitude, and renown to you, but you who have supported, sustained, 
and consoled your leaders. Our great chief, alas! is no more, and we 



/,V MEMORIAM. 

lament him as soldiers should mourn for such a general ; but even in his 
death he has given us a priceless consolation, for no Promethean moan 
escaped the lips of Lee while living, but he sunk to death shrouded in 
silence, mutely witnessing the unappealing sufferings of his people. 
Let us then, dear friends and comrades, profit by the impressive lesson 
of his brave and pure life, and let our people thoughtfullj- remember his 
eloquent silence and sublime fortitude under mighty trials. 

I have said that Robert E. Lee has passed the great ordeal of life 
with steadfast courage to the grave; but it may be further said that 
neither he nor the people of the South could have borne themselves so 
greatly under their misfortunes by virtue and courage alone. The 
Christian faith lent to our General its mighty aid. The dying Bayard 
in his last hour gazed upon the cross upon his sword hilt to strengthen 
his knightly soul before he passed the mysterious portals of death ; but 
our Lee followed the Cross in early j-outh, in mature manhood, and in 
old age, in victory or defeat, in war and peace, with humble and rever- 
ential tread, and bore it to the grave. The glories of his victories pale 
before the luster of his faith, and the splendors of his genius before the 
light of his virtues. Hereafter posterity will erect a monument of 
bronze or marble to commemorate the deeds and victories of the great 
Captain of America, and upon it, not inappropriately, might be inscribed 
some simple and half-forgotten lines, chiseled upon the grave-stone of 
an old soldier, which linger in my memory: 

" When I was young I she J my youthful blood 
On foughten fields for my dear country's good; 
When I was old I only sought tc5 be 
Soldier for Him who shed His blood for me." 



IN MEMOKIAM. 



OBSEQUIES. 

In the morning papers of the 15th instant appeared the subjoined 
notices : 

Mayor's Office, Louisville, Ky., October 15, 1S70. 
To the Citizt'ns of Louisvi/Zt' : 

I woiilil recommend that our citizens unite in paying a jtist and suitable tril:>ute of 
respect to the memory of the late General Rohert E. Lee by closing their places of 
business to-day during the time devoted to his funeral obsequies, between the hours of 
eleven A, M. and two r. m. It is requested that the church-bells be tolled during those 
hours, as will lie the case with the bells of the engine-houses. I think that such an 
expression of respect may very properly be manifested by our whole community without 
doing violence to any political or party feeling. We should simply view the deceased as 
an upright American citizen, against whose private character there was no reproach, and 
whose many Christian virtues antl eminent qualities of mind distinguished him as one of 
the great men of the nation. 

John G. Baxter, Mayor. 

Tlie committee of arrangements appointed at the Confederate meet- 
ing issued tliis notice: 

The telegra|)h having conveyed the intelligence that the funeral of the late General 
R. E. Lee will take place to-day at Lexington, Va., all business men of the city are requested, 
in accordance with jirevious arrangements, to close their respective places of business at ten 
o'clock \. M. for the day, through respect for the illustrious dead. The bells of the city 
will be tolled from six .v. M. to six P. M. 

W. F. Beasley, 
J. M. Kennard, 
Charles Semple. 

The special committee of CK-Confederate soldiers issued the follow- 
ing order for the procession to St. Paul's Church. 

In accordance with a resolution passed at the meeting of ex-Confederate soldiers on the 
evening of the 13th October to take action in reference to the death of General R. E. Lee, 

34 



IN MEMORIAM. 

;ill cx-Confederate soldiers are hereby requested to meet at eleven o'elock this morniiin; in 
front of tlie e<nut-house. Tliey will there form in i)rocession and proceed to St. Paid's 
Church, where a funeral oration will lie pronounced by Rev. W. II. Piatt, at half past 
eleven o'clock A. M., which corresponds with the hour of the services in Lexin};ton. It is 
piarticularly requested that each ex-Confederate soldier will provide himself with crape for 
the left arm, as a badge of mourning; fi-ir our deceased leader. Tlie public geuerallv are 
invited to the ser\ices. 

The following named gentlemen are charged witli the jiroper formation of the procession 
and its order of march: B. W. Duke, chief marshal; James M. Kennard, W. F. Beasley, 
J. L. Il'juse. II. G. Evans, John B. Castleman, ami C. F. Billingsley, assistant marshals. 

S. B. BuricNER, 
J. r. Johnson, 
Ch.vei.es .Semi'I.e. 



The flags on all the city building.s, steamboats, newspaper offices, 
etc., were placed at half-mast; business was generally suspended; the 
courts adjourned; the three medical schools, the law schools, and other 
public institutions took a recess; there was every external token of a 
general sorrow, of a universal appreciation of the great Virginian, and 
of the loss which the world sustained in his death. 

By eleven o'clock the roar of business had subsided to a sabbath- 
day stillness, broken only by the solemn tolling of the bells. The e\-e 
caught on e\'ery side long vistas of streets festooned with funeral 
draper}-; pictures of the dead hero, decked with flowers and symbols 
of mourning, cotdd be seen at every turn, surrounded by groups of 
citizens speaking in subdued tones andTsearing on their faces the impress 
of a sorrowful veneration, such perhaps as the faces of our fathers wore 
when Washington died. From the portals of Lee'.s tomb, where good 
men of all shades of opinion bowed their heads in sincere re\'erencc, 
the spirit of part}' shrunk abashed. The honors paitl to his memory 
in this cit}- were confined to no part}' — men of all shades of opinion 
united in a spontaneous tribute to the goodness of a great man. 

St. Paul's Episcopal Church was filled to its utmost capacity. The 
ex-Confcderate soldiers, about one thousand in number, with the badge 
of mourning on their left arm, filed into the chtu'ch with heads and 
hearts bowed down with sorrow for the fallen Chieftain whom they 
had all loved so well, and took position in front of the altar and in 



IN MEMORIAM. 

the aisles. The church was heavily draped in black. Every one of 
the vast assemblage seemed imbued with the solemnity of the occa- 
sion. The sound of the tolling bells, muffled by the massive walls of 
the church, fell upon the ears of the vast crowd with a mournful 
cadence. When the minister entered the pulpit to begin the sad rites 
the congregation was hushed as with the stillness of death. The 
services were the regular burial services of the Episcopal Church, 
and were precisely the same as those performed over the remains of 
the illustrious dead at Lexington, Virginia. 

Never before was the solemn grandeur of the burial service so 
deeply impressed upon the minds and hearts of the hearers. The 
great grief of the people gave every sentence a painful interest. 

The services opened with the funeral anthem, taken from the thirty- 
ninth and nintieth Psalms. 

At the conclusion of the anthem Rev. Mr. Perkins, Rector of St. 
Paul's Church, read, in an impressive manner, the usual lesson from 
I Cor. .xv. The choir then sang this 

HYMN. 

As o'er the past my memory strays, 

Why heaves the secret sigh? 
'T is tliat I mourn departed days, 

Still unprepared to die. 

The world and worldly things beloved, 

My anxious thoughts employed; 
And time, unhallowed, unimiiroved, 

Presents a fearful void. 

Yet, Holy Father, wild desjjair 

Chase from my laboring breast; 
Thy grace it is which prompts the prayer, 

Thiit grace can do the rest. 

My life's brief remnant shall be Thine, 

And wlien Thy sure decree 
iiids me this ileeting breath resign, 

O speed my soul to Thee. 
36 



IN MEMOK/AM. 



DISCOURSE OF REV. W. H. PLATT. 

"Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen tliis day in 
Israel?" (2 Samuel iii, 38.) 

The intelligence of the death of Robkrt E. Lee has flashed over 
the world and millions of hearts are in mourning. Aroimd the bier 
of this great man how many august memorie.s start and linger! The 
curtain of a deepening oblivion is drawn aside, and the panorama of the 
solemn past moves mournfully before the saddened vision of the soul. 
The scroll of the illustrious dead is again unrolled to our remembrance 
and the pantheon of our memory is again crowded with the martial 
forms of fame's immortal heroes. The southern people love their living 
and honor the memory of their dead defenders. Submissive though 
they are to the award of war's awful arbitrament, yet mothers, like 
Niobe, still weep for their sons that are not, and upon the streets are 
silent mourners with the tonnage upon their hearts of sorrow that will 
not away. But, however universal in every household is this affliction 
at deaths in the past, to-day we bury one whose departure, by special 
preeminence, leaves a sublime vacancy in the brotherhood of men. 
He was a representative character on the best and grandest side of 
humanity. Leadership in momentous issues is a high responsibility; 
but to lead magnanimously, with a firm will and a humane polic)',' when 
terrific passions swept a divided people with their consuming fires, and 
never to forget the lofty duties inspired by an advanced civilization, 
demanded those exceptional virtues which are seen only in the hero 
of the age. As I write my eye falls upon an editorial in a northern 
paper, which, as a summary of campaigns, and for a frank, honest, just 
concession to historic truth, and a freedom from partisan spleen, does 
high credit to the head and the heart of the writer. He says: 

'•The death of General T.1-:e will tirinj^ everywhere tributes to his military genius. There 
are few events in all history more striking than his defense of Richmond from 1S61 to 1S65. 
With an anny which was not one third, and during most of the time one quarter, as large as 
D 37 



IN MEMOKIAM. 

the forces of his enemy, and ill supplied with munitions of war, he covered the Confederate 
capital successfully and bade defiance to all assailants. Army after army, abundantly supplied 
and splendidly equipped, were hurled against him, only to be badly defeated and thrown back 
on their resources. He destroyed McClellan on the Peninsula in July, 1862. He beat Pope 
in August at Bull Run. In December, 1862, he routed Burnside at Fredericksburg. In 1863 
he overwhelmed Hooker at Chancellorsville and gained a most unparalleled victory. From 
May to November, 1864, his army killed and wounded more of Grant's troops than he had 
men, and the former could never have entered the metropolis of Virginia had it not been 
for the successes of Sherman on another line of operations. Although Richmond is but one 
hundred and twenty miles from Washington — not further than Columbus is from Cincinnati — 
although it is near Philadelphia and New York, and to the great centers of northern population, 
yet for forty-eight months with from 50,000 to 70,000 men he bade all the efforts of 250,000 
soldiers defiance. This shows he had military skill of the highest order. He was the Ajax 
of the South. For years his army, and his army alone, stood between them and destruction. 
When he surrendered, and not until then, was the contest lost. His genius was not perhaps 
so well adapted to offensive warfare, but in the defensive he was equal, if not superior, to 
Fabius or Washington. With his small resoui'ces no one could have done better. The un- 
fortunate invasions of Maiyland and Pennsylvania in 1862 and 1863, which ended in Antietam 
and Gettysburg, were made against his advice and protestation. If France had had such 
a man to maintain the integrity of her territory, the Prussians would not have been to-day 
anywhere near Paris, and most likely woidd have been expelled from French soil. The odds 
which he contended against were greater than hers. He was a great captain in the science 
of military tactics, and even before the rebellion, in 1S61, he had obtained the reputation 
in the old Federal army as being the ablest tactician in the service, which his after-career 
fully iustified." 

When the intolerant passions of the hour shall have softened to 
the patient temper of calm discussion and of fair and impartial judgment, 
I doubt not that military criticism will concede to the great Confederate 
genius of the highest order for both aggressive as well as defensive 
warfare. Time and the publication of his military journal will supply 
to history great explanations, and secure to General Lee the glories 
of great achievements where now seems only the cloud of misfortune 
and defeat. 

His mind, like his person, was modeled upon exactest harmonies, 
with but few parallels and no superiors. God develops great characters 
only in great trials. Pattern virtues in pattern men are the gift and care 
of the Deity, and can not be lost to fame. A true hero is the solitary 
gift of an era of centuries. The mass of men must follow and revere. 
It was exalting to the feelings of the world who looked upon the con- 
flict, and it should be the pride of this continent, that Robert E. Lee 

'vas of this land and age; that armies have been led by one whom 

3S 



IN MEMOR/AM. 

Christian pliilosophy had nioklcd into the divincst type possible to 
mortal nature. Whatever others may say of his course, he was con- 
fessedly grand in it, riglit or wrong. He made high demonstrations 
of moral possibilities, and furnished to history the most crowded chapter 
of its annals. Was ever a cause, right or wrong, so glorified? Did 
ever great virtues more magnif)- themselves? However impoverished 
materially may be the South, she is rich in the deathless fame of R(.)r.ERT 
E. Lee, that is unsullied and radiant in all its sublime proportions. 
Success would not have enhanced it, while failure only ennobled and 
consecrated it. For four years the invincible Lee had hurled back 
from the Confederate capital army after army, though led successively 
by their ablest generals; he had enlisted his last man; he had consumed 
his last ration; surrounded by a devastated and mourning land, ex- 
hausted by his very victories, confronted by a still fresh and larger 
army, he surrendered with an assured fame his worn, wasted, but 
glorious veterans. To General Grant, above all presidential honors, 
this surrender is his vast renown, and left him nothing grander to 
design or accomplish. 

As a citizen, his example was no less conspicuous. Like the bright- 
ness of the bow upon the frown of the storm, so were his hopefulness 
and serene grandeur amidst the perplexing and distressing chaos of 
defeat and disappointment. In a letter before me, dated May 12, 1865, 
after an allusion to the past, he says: "It is, however, useless to look 
back. Now that the South is willing to have peace, I hope it ma\- 
be accorded upon a permanent basis ; that the affections and interests 
of the country may be united, and not a forced and hollow truce 
formed, to be broken on the first opportunit)-. To this end all good 
men should labor." 

As it was primarily for Virginia he drew his sword, so to her interest 

he devoted his days of peace. Virginia was his inspiration ; lier sons 

and daughters were his pride; her soil his home; her history his 

heritage; her prosperity his jo)^ and her sufferings his woe. When he 

could no longer serve her in the field, he called her youth to his side 

to teach them, in peace and good-will, the lessons of patient submission 

39 



IN MEMORIAM. 

and of hopeful effort. His submission was sincere and unreserved. 
He bore with intelh'gent cahnness his own and with the deepest sym- 
pathy the accumulated misfortunes of his people, exhibiting to the 
world the rare example of failure without dishonor, submission without 
abjectness, and dignity without ostentation. Only a great man can 
fail grandly. As his splendid presence was the glory of the army, so 
the august simplicity of his life in peace was the remolding influence 
and impression of a people overwhelmed, revolutionized, and wasted. 
The eyes of the thoughtful looked to him for the line of action and 
the spirit of the hour. His mere word was still supremely potential. 
Millions learned from his example the dignity possible to misfortune, 
the self-respect and hopefulness of dutiful efforts, and realized the truth 
of God's word to man, " He that is slow to anger is better than the 
mighty, and he that ruleth his own spirit than he that taketh a city." 

His Christian principles and character were his crowning adorn- 
ment, and above all else have passed within the vail. Not his sagacious 
strategy, not his remarkable campaigns, not his victorious battles, nor 
his great sacrifices now concern him. His love of the Savior and 
faith in the sufficiency of his atonement completed the beautiful sym- 
metry of his character, and have now crowned him with everlasting 
life. I wish I could adequately describe the scene by the side of the 
death-bed of dear old Bishop Meade when the famous General knelt 
to receive his parting benediction. 

For nine months during the siege of Petersburg I saw no little of 

his spiritual life. I shall never forget the scene when I read prayers 

and preached at his headquarters, unable from the ^helling of the city 

to reach my church or open it for service. The place was one of 

[)eculiar and picturesque beauty. In the distance to the east were the 

lines of the Federal intrenchments, from which came frequent shot and 

shell upon the city and its approaches; opposite was the city with 

its tangled streets and rising spires; below and along the base of the 

bluff on which was his tent rolled with a sluggish tide the quiet 

Aiipomatto.v. From the cabins, barns, tents, and arbors of the \-icinit}- 

around hatl gathereil the refugees from the cit\', who had sought shelter 

40 



TN JMEMORIAM. 

from the sliclls that swept over and through it by ni>:^ht anil by day. 
Under a large and spreading live-oak were placed the table and prayer- 
book of the officiating minister, and around it gathered these houseless 
people and the great General of their armies. To the right and a 
little behind him sat General Beauregard and his staff and still further 
to the right and rear were General A. P. Hill and his staff, with other 
generals and staffs, forming a congregation of several hundred, and 
comprising many of the most conspicuous men of the South, His 
manner at service was devout, attenti\-e, and unaffected. At first man}- 
during prayer remained seated on their rude benches, but he was too 
great not to kneel to his God, and the example was contagious. His 
worship was a reality. He enjoyed and was strengthened by it. He 
had no speculative doubts of Christian truth, no reser\-e of faith, no 
questioning of God's providence. His faith was a clear, satisfactory, 
child-like trust. He loved God and little children. For the months 
of the siege of Petersburg, when the shelling abated or was only 
occasional, and many people returned to their homes, he was regularly 
at church, and sat in the minister's pew and with the minister's family; 
and when the congregation was dismissed it was no unconmion thing 
to see him lea\'ing the church with a bevy of chiklren clinging to his 
hands and coat, while his countenance beamed with benignity antl 
peace. His fondness for children was undisguised and deep. It is 
said that one da}- in Richmond a number of little girls was rolling 
hoops on the sidewalk when word was passed from one to another 
that General Lee was riding toward them. The\- all gathered into 
a still group to gaze uj)on one of whom they heard so much, when, 
to their surprise, he threw his rein to his attending courier, dis- 
mounted, and kissed c\'ery one of them, and then reniounting rode 
away with the sunn}- smile of childhood in his heart and plans of great 
battles in his mind. Once in Petersburg he called to see a chiltl in 
whom he felt a special interest, and finding her sick begged to be shown 
to her room. When the mother, who was at a neighbor's for a moment, 
came home to receive him she found him by the bed.side of her sick 

child, ministering to her comfort and cheering her with his words. 
E 41 



IN MEMORIAM. 

WIio would not and does not love such a man? He who loves God 
and httlc children can feel no conciousness of guilt or of ill-will to 
his fellow-men. He loved his fellow-men. He was tender of life and 
suffering. The record of God accuses him of no wanton aeeravation 
to the stern and bitter necessities of war. He made no war upon 
helpless women and children, the poor and the destitute. If he struck, 
it was at men threatening his home and the homes of the people who 
called him to defend them. There was no resentment in his warfare — 
no blows with passion. He ever seemed to live as one who must give 
an account to God. But there was in his religion faith without fanati- 
cism, prayer without pretension, and an earnestness, gentleness, and 
simplicit)- that kept him tranquil in disaster and grand in the final 
catastrophies of fortune. Modest and humble, he blamed himself for 
his failures and glorified God for his success. 

From these inner principles came an outer life and manner as 
graceful as they were serene and majestic. Nothing unworthy could 
abide his presence; yet all felt exalted by having seen and heard him. 
With him the weak felt strong and the good secure. Amidst a thou- 
sand a child would have selected him as its friend, and the pure 
and good of all ages and conditions ever felt him to be their pattern 
and champion. 

In his person he was a paragon of manliness — tall, commanding, 

and courtly. He sat his horse with a matchless grace, and ravished 

all eyes and hearts with the peerless splendor of his personal and 

martial bearing. Many of you may have seen the hushed reverence 

with which his troops hailed his approach. When the resistless Jackson 

swept down the line a shout followed his form, but when the majestic 

Lee came, as the morning sun over a storm-ridden sea, all hearts 

bowed in unutterable devotion. He seemed to the southern troops and 

people more than mortal. Where he led all squadrons followed with 

unquestioning confidence. No one ever debated the wisdom of an 

order or suggested to him the possibility of an error. His decisions 

were accepted as the conclusions of the highest intelligence. What 

he did or advised was felt to be for the best, and what he failed to 

42 



IN MEMORIAM. 

accomplish no liuman power need attempt. The southern people feel 
that their generals were unequaled in the great art of war, and that 
their great Captain whom they mourn to-day takes his niche in the 
gallery of the greatest warriors of the world. As they can not and 
do not .say that the)- failed because they were not sufficiently and 
gloriously led, the result therefore is less galling and reproachful. 
When Lee and the great captains who sustained him failed, and their 
flag went down forever, they knew that the best had been done that 
man could do. There was no effort to retrieve fortunes lost through 
incompetent leaders — no lingering, desultory, guerrilla strife in the 
wilderness and mountains. When the great Lee surrendered none 
doubted its necessity. No man ever so possessed the boundless confi- 
dence of a people, or was ever so beloved, even in his failures that 
developed the completed ruin of their homes and fortunes. To-daj' 
their hearts are in his coffin, and the\' mourn in a big and voiceless 
woe, not because he constructed for them a new government, not be- 
cause he saved their homes from devastation, not because he brought 
their sons back to them bloodless and scarless, not because he wove 
and unfurled forever a new flag on sea and shore, not because he suc- 
ceeded, but the)' love him because he left them inscribed in the calendar 
of time the hallowed glory of his sacred name and character. They 
say to the world. Look at him and where is his ecpial? He did not 
succeed as you wished success; but what, C) Southrons, would you take 
for his fame? Henceforth, whatever material progress other sections 
may boast, the people of the South ma\- point to the more than imperial 
renown of their Washington and their Lee, and say these are ours, 
of our own race and of our own blood and of our own color. No 
remapping of states, no spirit of go\'ernment, no inevitable change 
of institutions can rob us of these glories — forever and forever they 
are ours and the world's. If this is all that is left us it is enough. 
We gave to history the proudest and purest name of all ; 

" For its fame on brightest pages, 
Penned by poets and by sages, 
Shall go sounding down the ages;" 
43 



IN MERIORIAM. 

and manhood is nobler that he lived as he did live, and died as 
he died. 

And now, young men of the South, leaving to some future orator 
the more elaborate and formal eulogium upon the life, deeds, relations, 
and renown of the majestic dead, before the solemn words of dust to 
dust, earth to earth, ashes to ashes announce that all his mortality has 
forever passed away, let me before his open grave urge upon you his 
lessons of wisdom, and like him to wrest from misfortune its di\-ine 
compensations in the future. You have submitted nobly and truly. 
The future belongs to the God of Hope. In cheerful patience, in efforts 
however humble, in virtue however tried, in discouragement however 
dark and protracted, observe the dignity and self-poising of your great 
leader as displayed in the fires of his adversity. Like some mountain 
pine, still erect and aloft in its towering solitude, though scarred by 
the lightnings of heaven, he remained in his repose, immovable in his 
moral sufficienc\-, equal to all \'icissitudcs, the conqueror of himself and 
the pride of mankind. 

Let disappointment disenchant your hearts 
And lift them up to God; redeem the past 
With self-suppressions, prayer, and high resolves 
Live humljly, trusting God for future good; 
Live for eternity, not time ; see far 
Beyond these eddies of events, these hours 
Of joy and years of pain, the guerdon bright: 
Immortal youth, and changeless love, and peace, 
And ever-growing tliought, and deep'ning fields 
Of grandeur — angels, seraphs, jeweled hosts, 
And uncreated light, O youth ! O man ! 
O quenchless soul! O child of God! these, these 
Survive the passions, wars, and names and deeds, 
And proud report of man ; survive the globe. 
Survive the lofty stars and moon and sun ; 
Survive the years, survive tlie grave, survive 
In God the trophies of redeeming love. 
44 



APPENDIX. 

The following-naniecl business-houses were closed in honor of tiie 
nieuioiy of General Lee durini^ his ol^sequies: 



Pilin.in, Berry A Co. 

('Iiniiiberlin A" Ing^ills. 

\'acnio A Bio. 

Edclen, HuffakerA Shy. 

Moore, Bremaker it Co. 

Munger A' Co. 

Klentuckv Rolling Mill Co. 

Page A Co. 

J. Guiiian. 

C. R. Cireen. 

J. F. Lann. 

B. Sternberg. 
Mrs. H. Kraukle. 
Ceorge Sutton. 
A. Rosenbaimi. 

German Bank and Ins. Co. 
Harris, Nahni & Co. 
Tapp, Walsh it Co. 
Peter, Power it Coo]jer. 
John G. Baxter. 
Netherland it Hart. 
John Watson. 
Shenill, Pratt it Co. 
Read A Truman. 
Callac;han A: Trigt;. 
J. T.^S. Brown i Co. 
J. JM. Robinson it Co. 
Warren, Reacli & Co. 
N. Gwvnn A Co. 
J. W. Morrill it Co. 
S. G. Hemy -t Co. 
Bavless, McCarthy A Co. 
N.'Miller. 
A. H. Gardner. 
Griffith A Van Pelt. 
Sherman A Co. 
T. A R. Slevin A Cain. 
John H. Thomas A Co. 
Harbison A Gathriijht. 

C. P. Barnes A Bro. 
Stump A Walts. 
White A Cochrane. 
Otter A Co, 
Grove, Roach A Co. 
Isaac Slaughter. 
Jacob Tliorne, jr. 

R. A. Robinson A Co. 
Piatt A Allen. 
L. A G. Bronner A Co. 
M. Leopold A Co. 
t^heens A Co. 
Jacob F. Weller. 
SutcHffe A Owen. 
Bamberger, Bloom A Co. 
Hays, Cross A Co. 
T. Anderson A Co. 
Moss A .Semple. 
J. Bridgeford A Co. 
Wm. P"'. Beasley A Co. 
Harvey A Girdar. 
Sabel, I.a/arus A Co. 
Ripev. Burrell A Co. 
Merrill A Hart. 
Barbee A Castleman. 
W. H. Stnkes A Co. 
To. C. Pell. 
W. A. Owen. 
John P. Morton A Cn. 



Gardner A Co. 
Wm. Bennett. 
Spelger Bros. 
Geo.'W. Wicks A Co. 

C. H. Hewitt A Co. 
J. S. Lithgow A Co. 
Geo. C. Hunter A Co. 
Pitkin, Wiard A Co- 
J. G. Mathers. 
Janney A Perry. 
Louis Tripp. 

Kitts A Werne. 

E. Sincere. 
Walton Bros. 
Hegan Bros. 

D. O'Hare. 

Jos. Griffith A Sons. 
"Wm. Rosenberg A Co. 
Hastings A Courtney. 
H. A S. Hodkinson. 
John A. Dickinson. 
Davidson, Bros, A Co. 
J. H. Schroeder A Son. 
Archibald A Davis. 
Newcomb, Buchanan A Co. 
R. H. Robinson. 
A. Templeton. 
Merriman A Co. 
W, Kendrick. 
[ames Todd A Co. 
G. W. JMcCready. 
Ouerbacker. Benhani A Co. 
Ropke A Haxthausen. 
John Duffy A Co. 
Gould, Field A Co. 
Torbitt A Castleman. 
Dodge, Rhorcr A Co, 
Geary, Driesbacli A Co. 
Cornwall A Brother. 
Moore A C'o. 
W. H. Walker A Co. 
Huglies, Goslee vt Co. 
Hatl A Long. 
Owsley A Co. 
Fears, Bariley A Co. 
A. Schoeftel A Co. 
O. W. Thomas A Co. 
Hamilion A Bros. 
W. H. Slaughter A Co. 
Phillips A Scally. 
Chambers A Kean. 
McNeil, Wright A Sanders. 
Chambers Bro.s. A Co. 
T. M. Reamer, 
r. T. McRea. 
J. W. Wheeler, 
fohn Murt. 
A A. Wheeler. 
Thos. J. Martin A Son. 
Overall. Morlan A Co. 
Leniont A McCormick. 
A. H. Patterson. 
Mills A Duckwall. 

F. S. Van ."Vlstine. 
Hunter A' Co. 

John B. Mcllvaine A Son. 
Dorn, Barkhouse & Co. 
S. T. Suit A Co. 



C. E. Radden A Co. 

Jones, Tapp A Co. 

Prather, Smith A Co. 

Trabue, Davis & Co. 

Waide, Gaines A Co. 

Smith, Amis & Co. 

Porter, Akin A Co. 

Ronald, Bro. A Co. 

E. Bohrer. 

Frank Dirksen. 

A. Nichoi. 

Mrs. B. F. Whiting. 

S. Aron. 

Samuel P. Leedly. 

Mrs. J. Rosenfieid. 

Carter, Fisher A Co. 

Low A Whitney. 

Kahn A Wolf, ' 

Johnston, Newman A Co. 

Walton A Co. 

Crawford & Sale. 

A. B. Bnrnham A Co. 

Clarke A Allen. 

Beattv A Shalles. 

Gad. Davis. 

Mrs. Lincoln. 

L. L. Warren & Co. 

Edward Wilder A Co. 

Snoddy A Parnsh. 

Truman Bros. A Swann. 

Terry, Wheat & Chesney. 

Harvey A Keith. 

Haynes, Neel A Co. 

Quast Schidten. 

Al. Bourlier A Bro. 

Phil. Lotich. 

John Fiexner, 

Jackson, Loving S: Co. 

John Kohlhepi). 

R. E. Sewell. 

Geo. F. Wood A Bro, 

Neale A Co. 

Baird Bros. 

Joseph T. Tomjikins A Co. 

Thomas Hackett. 

C. Euler. 

H. Wedekind & Co. 

Hirsch A Fiexner. 

W. T. Weller A Son. 

Lewis, Gage A Co. 

H. C. Murrell. 

J. B. Wilder & Co. 

porch, Cooke A Bryant. 

Car.non A Byers. 

W. L Tapp. 

S. Cllman A Co. 

W. H. Welman. 

R. Brown A C<>. 

IVL)ore. Underwood A Co. 

C. R. Woodruff 

Wolf A Dnrringer. 

McCrcady A Martin 

E. Stokes. 

C. G. Tachau & Co. 

John B. Pirtle. 

A. Levi A Co. 

H. S, Buckner A Co. 

J. C. Webb A Co. 



Bennett Bros. F. JM. Co, 
Small. Levy A Co. 
S. Diabelle. 
Alrich A Schwenck. 

C. W. Stevenson. 
Andrew Graham, 
Maxwell Sc Co. 
Stratton, Snodgrass & Co. 
Hall's Safe and Lock Co. 
JopHn A Reynolds. 
Stuckey A Barret. 

Joim Castleman. 
Henry W. Barret. 
N. D. Hunter A Co. 
Mooney, Mantle A Cowan. 
Hackett, Anderson A; Fore 

man. 
Gerding A Hanna. 
E. G. Wigginton A Co. 
J. D. Bondurant. 
Peaslee, Gaulbert A Co. 

A. L Harding. 
H. N. Gage. ^ 
O. Rawson, 
German A Bro. 
Montcalm A Co. 

B. C. Levi. 
Heath, Smith A Co. 
Smith, Sturgeon A Co. 
Montgomery A Co. 

J. L. Botsford A Co. 
Krack, Reed A Co. 
E. Boyd A Co. 

D. S. Benedict A Sons 
A, T. Smith. 

D. Marshall. 

E. W. Wood. 
Edw. Fulton, 

H. Verlioeff, jr., A Co. 
Shirley A Woolfolk. 
O'Bannon A Bashaw. 
McFerran, Armstrong A Co. 
John M. Stokes A Son, 

C. Kelchum. 

D. P. Fauld.s. 

J. V, Escott A Son. 
Bennett A Bourne. 
Henry Wehmhoff. 
John L. .Anderson. 
Ladd A Sullivan. 
R. E. Miles. 
Davis A Hudson. 
Duncan, Floyfl A Co. 
Warren Mitchell A Co. 
W. '[". Hammond A Co. 
J. V. Cowling, jr. 
A. A. Richardson A Son. 
Whitney, Brown A Co. 
J. C. Buckles. 
J. Peter A Co. 
T. L. Jefferson A Bro. 
John White A Co. 
R. R. Thatcher. 
Guthrie A Co. 
Duckwall. Troxell A Co. 

E. W,A L. P. Kennedy, 
E. Bustard. 



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